The Twisted Dream
by Wayra
Summary: It all started with a harmless dream. Who would have thought Mukuro would be sadistic enough to bootleg Alice in Wonderland to harass poor Tsuna?
1. Parte Uno

**Disclaimer** – I don't own KHR. If I did…my goodness I can only imagine the insanity that would happen and the completely random Crack!pairings. O.o

**Warning** – Alice in Wonderland with a super major twist…just because I can do that. XD Hurray for fanfiction!

**Pairings** – Just get a magnifying glass and squint and you'll find something. I know I can…>.>

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**The Twisted Dream**

_Parte Uno_

Tsuna yawned, wincing as he sat down on his bed after a traumatizing day at school. Reborn had once gain found a bizarre way to train him by rigging the schools track with enough explosives to make it a hazardous mine field.

Tsuna had just barely made it through the mine field before he was confronted by Hibari and ultimately 'bitten to death' with his tonfas for disturbing the peace of the school.

Now, the only reward Tsuna got for his efforts of surviving Reborns 'death field' was a truckload of bandages, a broken rib, and a black eye.

"Reborn really does want to kill me," Tsuna grumbled as he struggled to reach over towards his lamp. As soon as his hand brushed the lamps switch, a book fell off his desk, making a soft thump on the floor as it landed.

Tsuna blinked, trying his best to reach down to pick it up, but stopped when he read the name.

_Alice's Adventures in Wonderland._

He smiled. It had been a while since he had read that book; well, he hadn't read it. It was more of his mom doing it than him, but still…

Gently, with much effort, he picked it off the floor and placed it back on his desk. Tsuna frowned slightly. He didn't remember the book being in his room. Tsuna had thought that his mom had given it away by now.

"Ah well…" he said, going back to turning off his lamp. He'd give it to Lambo, I-Pin, or even Fuuta tomorrow. After all, he didn't need the book anymore. Tsuna knew it from front to back.

With a small yawn, he slowly closed his eyes and faded into dreamland. If only he had known his dreams would be completely and utterly deranged in every sense of the word, he probably would have forced himself to stay up all night.

"WAAAH! OH NO! I'M LATE!"

Tsuna jumped, his eyes shooting open. If he wasn't so used to being abruptly awakened by all the chaos in his house, he was sure he would have had a heart attack. Instantly, his eyes went towards a boy who looked awfully familiar…minus the rabbit ears and the fluffy tail. He was running down the road with a shirt that seemed too big for his small body, the sleeves flopping two and fro with his floppy white rabbit ears.

"Uh…F-Fuuta?" he said, his eyes widening even more than he thought humanly possible. What was he doing with rabbit ears? Where those REAL?!

The boy stopped, turning his large doleful eyes towards him. He looked a bit confused, and slightly curious. "Hm? How do you know my name?"

Tsuna blinked. Uh…this was odd. No…now that he thought about it, what the heck was he doing under a tree near a dusty road? Wasn't he just lying in bed?

Fuuta raised an eyebrow, patiently waiting for an answer in exactly four seconds before he turned and began to run down the road again.

"W-Wait! What's going on?!" Tsuna yelled after him, but all he got for an answer back was, 'Sorry sir, but I'm late!'

"Fuuta!" he called, but the small little boy with oversized shirt, and the floppy white rabbit ears, was nowhere to be seen.

Tsuna had wished that Fuuta would randomly come back. However, he knew that boy wouldn't, especially since he seemed so adamant about getting to some meeting or whatever somewhere.

"Heeee! Where am I?!" Tsuna screamed, holding his head and shouting towards the sky. Wait a second…this whole situation was sickingly familiar…

"Kufufufu…"

Tsuna's screaming stopped and he tensed. There was only one person he knew with that creepy laugh. Slowly, he looked up in the tree. Smiling down at him was the very person he hoped he would not see…Mukuro.

"Hello there, little Vongola."

"M-M-Mukuro?! What are you doing here?!" Tsuna shouted, his eyes examining him fearfully. On top of Mukuro's head were two pink and purple striped cat ears. He even had a tail to match. What made things worse…was the fact that his grin seemed even more disturbing than usual.

"I don't know," he replied with an even larger grin. "Where is here?"

"Here is here!" Tsuna barked, his fear temporarily replaced by an ounce of annoyance. Was this one of Mukuro's sick jokes?

"But if here is here, and you are here, then isn't your question answered?"

"W…what?"

Mukuro laughed, swinging so he was hanging upside down from a tree branch. "You never cease to amaze me with your ability to grasp the meaning of words."

Tsuna stood up; backing away from the tree his feline-like Mist Guardian had taken a liking to. It was never good to have the semi-sane Mist Guardian anywhere too close to him. He always made Tsuna uncomfortable with his constant grin, sultry voice, and well…creepiness. "Mukuro, you're behind this aren't you?"

The person in question shrugged. "Maybe. It gets rather lonely and dull where I live."

"So does that mean you had something to do with this?"

"Oya oya…who knows, little Vongola?"

Tsuna's patience was on a thread. "Is this an illusion of yours?" He looked around. Everything looked so real…but then again, wasn't that the point of illusions; to make things look real?

"What is an illusion? If an illusion is real to the person seeing it, doesn't that make it real?"

Tsuna held his head. "S-Stop that! Answer my question!"

Mukuro simply 'kufufued' and slowly began to disappear.

"Wait I still…oh never mind…" Tsuna said, sighing and shaking his head. Chaos in real life, and chaos in his dreams (or at least he prayed this was a dream). There was simply no safe place for him anymore. This was just a dose of too much insanity for him. Reborn blowing things up, Lambo randomly shooting rocket launchers in his house, and even Dino coming over with that demon turtle Enzio who had taken a strange enjoyment in destroying his bathtub and front door, seemed like heaven compared to what was going on now.

"Alice in Wonderland…" he said aloud. Yes, that's what this whole weird experience seemed like…but things were a bit different. He didn't have to read the book to know that something wasn't really right. Wasn't Alice supposed to chase the white rabbit down a rabbit hole or something?

"GAH!" Tsuna rubbed his head vigorously. He wasn't going to solve anything just standing here looking like a fool on the side of the road. Tsuna knew he was going to regret this later on, but he decided to take the first step to getting out of this situation; he walked forward.

**To be continued!** xD

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Rofl, my head is crazy. I had watched the movie a few days ago and this idea just sorta smacked me in the face like a fish. Using Alice in Wonderland as reference to torture poor Tsuna just seemed like something Mukuro would do, lol.

Anywho, tell me what you think! This is my first poor attempt at doing a KHR fanfic. Bleh…I really should be finishing up my other fanfics…>.> **-coughs-**


	2. Parte Due

**_Review Corner_**

_For the mysterious individuals..._

**TnM - **Lol, thank you! And yes I know about it. xD Bleh, I can't find that doujinshi anywhere though, and it's driving me insane. I wish I know what it was called so I could buy it. Dx

**The Twisted Dream**

_Parte Due_

It felt like hours had passed since Tsuna first started down the road. Nothing odd had jumped out at him, like a vacuum cleaner with wings, or a slug with a duck bill or anything crazy like in the Alice in Wonderland book. Oh no, it was so insanely normal…that it was actually making him even more nervous than he would be if it was crazy.

Mukuro was truly an evil person…and the sad thing was, he was one of Tsuna's most important family members despite his obvious sadism and creepy obsession for him equivalent to a stalker.

He sighed.

"EXTREME RUNNING!"

Tsuna screamed, jumping high in the air. Quickly he rushed to get out of the road as soon as the sound of pounding feet got closer. He had just barely got out of it before something crashed into him, sending him flying onto the dusty road.

"Eh? Haven't seen you before. Are you out for a jog too?"

Tsuna coughed, still laying sprawled out on the ground as he looked over at the one person he knew who screamed 'extreme' with such passion. "Ah…Ryohei. It's nice to see you're in my twisted dream too…"

Ryohei, thankfully, looked completely normal. He didn't seem to fit into any of the Alice in Wonderland characters like Mukuro and Fuuta had. As usual, Ryohei had bandages around his fists and chest, not to mention he had those same boxing shorts Tsuna had remembered him wearing when they had first fought.

"Hm?" Ryohei blinked down at him, crossing his arms. "Do I know you?"

"I…erm…no, no you don't. I uh, heard about you from…uh, people."

Ryohei's perplexed look turned into one of pure excitement. "You're here to join the boxing club aren't you?! That's why you know me!"

Tsuna sighed, a sweatdrop forming on his head. Even in Mukuro's illusion he kept everyone in character. "Well uh…no not really."

"Nonsense! You took that tackle to the EXTREME! That proves you're boxing material!" Ryohei shouted, throwing his fists towards the sky as if he was challenging it to a boxing match.

"This…isn't even Alice in Wonderland anymore…" Tsuna mumbled, getting off the ground and dusting himself off.

"Alice in where?"

"Never mind. Umm…have you seen a little boy with rabbit ears?"

Ryohei crossed his arms again, his gaze shifting towards the ground. "Well, I did see a little boy earlier. He was running extremely fast. Such passion nowadays is hard to come by." With that statement, Ryohei's eyes seemed to burn with flames.

Tsuna smiled nervously. Yes, this had to be the most brilliant illusion Mukuro had ever come up with…and that scared the hell out of him. "Ryohei…um…I'm on a quest to find that white rabbit eared boy to get…um, home." Whether rabbit eared Fuuta could really help him or not was unknown, but he did know in the Alice in Wonderland story that following the rabbit resulted in trouble which…uh, got Alice home…eventually.

Ryohei seemed a bit confused by this statement because his face scrunched up in thought, and his eyes narrowed slightly. "So…you need that rabbit eared runner to help you on your quest home?"

Tsuna had never really said that he 'needed' Fuuta, but well…this worked to his advantage so he decided to just go with what Ryohei said.

"That's right!"

"Ah I see. Well then, allow me to come with you! I want to meet the rabbit kid too! I'm going to see if I can recruit him for the boxing club."

Tsuna sweatdropped. Well…at least he had Ryohei with him now. The older boy, hopefully, knew this place pretty well, so…that was an advantage.

"Well…all right." He smiled. "You can come with me. After all, you know this place better than me, right?"

Ryohei beamed. "That's right! It's easy for newcomers to get lost here!" The older boy radiated excitement to the point where it was almost contagious. Tsuna could feel himself starting to smile even wider than before.

Maybe…just maybe he could actually 'survive' this dream!

"I'm so happy," Tsuna said, his eyes tearing up with joy.

Ryohei simply gave him a large goofy grin and a thumbs up sign. "See, things are already working out for the best, right?! We will use EXTREME RUNNING to find that rabbit boy!"

And that's where Tsuna's joy evaporated like a puddle of water under desert heat. "W-What?"

"Come on!" Ryohei shouted, running off with a speed that would make a cheetah jealous.

"HEEE! Ryohei wait!" Tsuna yelled running after the older boy as quickly as his short legs could go.

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Sadly, Tsuna never did catch up with the mega fast boy. Instead, Ryohei just got him even more lost than he was before he began this 'journey'. The road had magically changed into a forest for some odd reason, and now Tsuna was literally in the middle of nowhere.

He shuddered, looking at all the scary looking plants in the semi-dark forest. Tsuna gulped, trying his best to remember exactly what happened in Alice in Wonderland that had something to do with a forest, but now that he thought about it…what was the point? Mukuro did a complete bastadization of the book, killing whatever storyline had existed in the original Alice in Wonderland. Using the book as reference for all that was happening to him, didn't seem like the best idea.

"I…I'm going to probably be trapped in this stupid dream forever…" Tsuna sniffled, taking a step forward and continuing on.

The further he got in the forest, the less dark it seemed to get. If he listened hard enough…he could almost hear someone yelling 'stupid baseball nut', and a bunch of other things that were just too vulgar for Tsuna to want to remember. _Gokudera?_ he thought without much effort. Gokudera always yelled at Yamamoto like that didn't he?

"Uh…" Tsuna hesitated about going in the direction of the voices. It would be nice to have Gokudera and Yamamoto go along with him on his journey to find the white rabbit…but…then again, his more paranoid side told him that they'd just make things worse than they already were, if that were even possible.

"Lost, little Vongola?"

Tsuna sighed, not even fazed this time by Mukuro's random appearance. "Mukuro, can I wake up now?"

"Wake up?" Mukuro asked from his position on a nearby tree branch. Tsuna never thought to think of the older boy as a cat…but now that he was watching him lounging around on the tree branch so comfortably with that usual predatory smirk on his face…he could see it. "But you're already awake."

"You know what I mean!" What was up with Mukuro today? He was unusually vindictive.

"Kufufufu...Can't help you there."

Tsuna paled. What was that supposed to mean? "W-W-What are you talking about?"

Mukuro's chesire grin only grew larger. "You have to find your own way out of this illusion. After all, you did create it."

"I…created it?"

Mukuro was confusing the hell out of Tsuna with all his weird talking, but somewhere in the recesses of whatever shred of sanity Tsuna had managed to grasp, this made a tiny bit of sense. "So this really is just some dream?"

"Maybe." Mukuro shrugged nonchalantly.

"That's…not helping."

"Does the Chesire Cat ever truly help Alice? Or is it Alice herself who makes it home through her own intuition?"

"I…uh…" Tsuna sighed. "Maybe?"

Mukuro's smile grew. The next thing Tsuna knew he was standing next to him whispering in his ear. "Therefore, little Vongola, shouldn't you be using that very intuition to solve problems on your own?"

Tsuna turned to say something back, but the grinning cat eared Mukuro was once again sitting in the tree as if he had never moved from his comfortable place on it.

"Dear little Vongola, if you want a bit of help, try going that way." Mukuro pointed straight ahead. "Then again, if you don't want help, you can also go that way." He pointed in the same direction.

"W…What are you talking about?" Tsuna held his head, and closed his eyes. He could feel a massive headache coming.

Mukuro chuckled. "Who knows?" With that said he disappeared just like his book counterpart, once again leaving Tsuna all alone, and even more frustrated and confused than before with his perplexing words.

"It's official…" Tsuna whispered, "that the Chesire Cat's job is to be as annoying as possible."

With a large sigh (he had been doing that a lot as of late), Tsuna continued on as if he had not had that conversation with Mukuro. However, he shivered slightly when he felt a gentle breeze stroke his cheek and heard faint laughter in his ears.

"Gokudera…Yamamoto…please be sane for my sake." He sniffled, wishing that he would wake up soon and find himself once again on a soft, warm bed…

**-Gasps- To be continued!**

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**Author note: **Muhahaha! My goodness I love Mukuro…and I think my brain seriously just died writing this.

Yeah, I updated quickly, but that's because I already have this whole thing finished, lol. Six chapters, whoohoo! Anywho, thanks to the people who added me to their favorites and all that pizzazz. You guys are awesome possums. But please do leave a review. o.o It just seems like a common courtesy.

All that aside, I'm not updating again until Sunday, but that's because there's a lot of work I need to do with the other chapters, and besides...it's fun being evil and making people wait **-cackles insanely-**

So…off I go! **–gets back to work-**


	3. Parte Tre

**Warning: **Gokudera has a potty mouth as you all know, so I'm going to be using his colorful language. If that's a problem…I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. Not to mention other characters who we all know have potty mouths too shall be here… o.o;; So, people who don't like cursing, watch out in future chapters. xD

_**Review Reply Corner**_

**Leer **– Rofl! Your reviews made me laugh mega hard. xD Yes, this story is so insane, I could see it happening in the series too as one of those random filler-like episodes or manga chapters.

Lol! Yes Varia shall be in here, just because I love them. They're just too dysfunctional to leave out; besides, I fangirl over Squalo. Ah yes, and thank you for that critique! I didn't notice that until you said something, lol.

Anywho…onwards with the story! And yes I know I said I'd update on Sunday, but I'm sure you guys don't mind me putting this a few days earlier. I honestly don't think I can correct this chapter anymore, which is another reason why it's coming up…>.>

**The Twisted Dream**

Parte Tre

"Idiot baseball freak! You have no idea where we are!"

"Haha, I guess not."

Tsuna smiled as he got nearer to the loud voices ahead. They were like a beacon of light in that dark forest. Tsuna decided to take this as a sign of good things to come. If not, then he'd go and cry somewhere to relieve his stress…again.

"I have no idea why I even listened to you. You always get us lost."

"Well, I'm sure Hibari won't mind us being a little late, right?"

Swears and curses filled the air. Tsuna winced, fighting back the urge to cover his ears. Gokudera and his colorful words…

"Hibari will beat us to death again like last year! How is that not 'minding'?"

Yamamoto laughed jovially. "I don't know. Aww, calm down Gokudera! Everything will be fine. You're such a worrier."

"I HAVE A GOOD REASON!"

Tsuna poked his head out from between two trees, watching his two best friends cautiously. Gokudera looked pretty normal…minus the black pinstripe suit and the top hat on his head. The only one who looked a bit different was Yamamoto, and that was only because he had long ears on his head like a hare. His clothes were the same way they were in real life, and he even had his baseball bat strapped to back like a sword. Yes…this dream certainly couldn't get anymore odder than this.

_They must be the Mad Hatter and the March Hare…_he thought. However, Gokudera seemed more…uh, _angry_ than mad, and Yamamoto was a bit too happy to be crazy like the March Hare. Either way, they most certainly did not match their book counterparts. Tsuna made a mental note to ask Chrome if she could coax Mukuro into leaving him alone when this whole ordeal was over.

"Haha, if you say so, Gokudera," Yamamoto said, rubbing the back of his head.

"The hell is that supposed to mean? You seriously piss me off!" Gokudera snarled, reaching into his suit.

Tsuna instantly acted. He was so used to seeing Gokudera take out dynamites that he knew what was about to happen. "Gokudera! Stooooooop!"

Gokudera and Yamamoto glanced in his direction with wide eyes and gaping mouths as Tsuna collided with Gokudera, knocking him on the ground with his arms wrapped firmly around his waist.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Ah, is this a friend of yours, Gokudera?" Yamamoto said, his tone still joyful and happy despite the fact he almost had a brush with death.

Gokudera just lay on the ground in shock for a second, before his eyes blazed and his tone was all but happy. "Get. Off. Me."

With a blush, Tsuna reluctantly let go, smiling nervously. "Uh…h-hello…"

Yamamoto laughed, helping Tsuna up and dusting his clothes off. "You should really try playing tag with someone else next time, kiddo. I don't think Gokudera likes that game too much."

Tsuna sweatdropped. Same ol' Yamamoto…

Gokudera grumbled, standing up. His sharp forest green eyes boring holes in Tsuna's head. "Who are you? And how do you know my name?"

"Uh…well…" Tsuna trailed off. Exactly how was he going to explain this? "I heard about you from a few people. I'm new around here. Um, my name is Sawada Tsunayoushi, but most people just call me Tsuna for short."

_Or Dame Tsuna…_he thought. However, they didn't need to know that; nobody needed to know that really…

Gokudera still looked suspicious, but Yamamoto beamed. "Pleasure to meet you, Tsuna! I'm sure if you know Gokudera you must know me too."

Tsuna nodded, smiling softly. He gulped and looked away though when Gokudera's eyes narrowed a fraction. "Y-Yes, of course, Yamamoto."

Yamamoto, completely oblivious to Tsuna's discomfort, continued. "So, what brings you here? Gokudera and I were on our way to the king's birthday party."

"Birthday…party?" Tsuna whispered, raising an eyebrow. Now that this was mentioned…didn't Gokudera shout something about Hibari's party? Wait…did that mean…?! "Hibari's a king?!"

Gokudera and Yamamoto blinked, glancing at each other.

"Erm…yeah. Exactly where did you say you were from?" Gokudera asked, his voice a bit softer than it was before.

Tsuna didn't hear him though. His mind was elsewhere at the moment as he stared at the cold hard ground beneath his feet. The Queen of Hearts was replaced by Hibari…which didn't seem like a good thing. Thinking of Hibari with dictatorship powers to the extreme was a frightening prospect that made him shudder. It was bad enough that Mukuro was an omnificent character from the Alice in Wonderland book…but to think that Tsuna would have to encounter Hibari was--he shuddered again.

"Are you cold?" Yamamoto asked kindly, a slight frown gracing the corners of his mouth.

"N-no…sorry. I just heard all kinds of stories about Hibari."

"Most of which were probably true," Gokudera muttered, looking grumpy and quite annoyed all over again. "Anyway, it was nice talking to you, but Yamamoto and I really need to get going before we get in trouble."

"W-Wait!" Tsuna cried, grabbing Gokudera's arm. "Do you know someone with floppy white rabbit ears who's constantly crying 'I'm late?'"

Gokudera and Yamamoto blinked at each other. "Fuuta?" they said in unison as if this was the most obvious answer.

"Yes!" Tsuna's eyes sparkled with joy. Finally he could get one step closer to getting out of this weird dream!

"Yeah, he ran through here earlier. We tried to ask him for advice on directions, but talking to him while he's in 'work mode' is like trying to talk to a rock." Gokudera sighed, shaking his head.

"Have you…um, tried asking the Chesire Cat for help?"

"Mukuro?" Gokudera said incredulously.

Tsuna nodded.

Yamamoto laughed for what seemed like the hundredth time since Tsuna first spoke to him. "Mukuro isn't much help in these situations. He's the one who got us lost even more."

Tsuna sweatdropped. Of course Mukuro would do that. He was doing that to Tsuna right now; getting him more lost and even more confused than he had originally been. "I see…well, um, any idea on where Fuuta is headed?"

"He's probably going to Hibari's party. He's usually there ranking people and games," Gokudera replied. "It's some weird hobby of his."

Tsuna sighed. Well, that meant he was going to have to endure even more torture now. This was just wonderful…

"You should come with us, Tsuna!" Yamamoto cried, slinging an arm around Tsuna's shoulder and resting his chin on top of his head. "I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun!"

"Che…shut up, baseball freak! We're just going to have to do all those dangerous games again. There was nothing fun about them!"

Tsuna paled. He could almost feel dark clouds of omen hovering above his head. Dangerous games?! He should have known Hibari wasn't going to have a nice happy tea party, or a peaceful game of croquet like in the book...though that game was more confusing and crazy than peaceful.

"Hmm?" Yamamoto stared at Tsuna intensely with his honey brown eyes. "You look sorta sick. Are you feeling all right, Tsuna?"

"Of course he's not!" Gokudera yanked Tsuna away as if he was a rag doll. "He's just basically been told he's going to die. Besides, who would be ok with you draped all over them?"

Yamamoto simply laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

"Um…excuse me…" Tsuna mumbled, looking back and forth between the two nervously, "do I HAVE to go to this party, or is there a way around it?"

Gokudera nodded. "You have to go. Since you're new around here, you have to get acquainted with the king and his royal guards. If you don't well…you're free game after the party."

Tsuna wanted to go and cry in a corner somewhere. "F-Free game?! For what?"

"Well...Hibari's pretty vengeful to those who miss out on his parties and other gatherings..." Yamamoto said, still smiling. "Then again, even if you do get acquainted with the king you can still get in a lot of trouble with him or his guards."

How could Yamamoto talk about this so nonchalantly with a smile?! "B-B-But I thought Hibari didn't like crowds!"

"He doesn't. The only reason why he attempts to have any sort of social gathering is to make people do crazy things for his enjoyment," Gokudera grumbled, crossing his arms. "The bastards a fucking dictator."

Tsuna sniffled. He wanted to scream for Mukuro to save him from his own dream, but he knew the boy wouldn't be any help. Mukuro was probably sitting in a tree somewhere laughing at Tsuna's misfortune and planning even more horrible things to make happen to him.

"Cheer up, Tsuna!" Gokudera barked, patting him on the back. "We'll look after you, so no worries."

That made him feel a little better. Tsuna didn't have that feeling of dread he did with Ryohei (where ever he was now). He actually felt a bit at ease. Maybe Lady Luck would be kind to him for once…

"Well, let's get going," Yamamoto said, getting rid of the silence that seemed to linger in the air. "We may get even more lost, but at least we're headed somewhere, right?"

Gokudera scoffed. "That's the first smart thing you've said all day."

"But I've been saying all sorts of smart things, Gokudera. You just don't like to listen."

Tsuna shook his head, looking up at the sky. Maybe things were finally looking up…or at least he thought that before Gokudera took out some dynamite and proceeded to try and blow Yamamoto to pieces.

**To be continued!**

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**Author note: **Yeah, whatever sanity I had while working on this is gone now. o.O;; And zomg yes a cliffhanger! Muhaha, my cruelty knows no bounds.


	4. Parte Quattro

**Leer - **Thank you very much! That means a lot to me. It took me forever to figure out who would be best being who, lol.

**The Twisted Dream**

_Parte Quattro_

After that traumatizing experience a little over what felt like an hour ago, Tsuna was finally getting somewhere. The forest had thinned away into becoming a road again. Apparently it didn't really matter what direction you went in, because the forest would always thin out into a road.

_Was that what Mukuro meant earlier when he kept pointing in the same direction?_ Tsuna thought. It was too weird to be true…but what part about this dream wasn't odd?

"Finally!" Gokudera cried, throwing his arms in the air in exasperation. "I thought we were going to be in there forever."

Yamamoto laughed. "I think we were going to get out eventually. You can't really be trapped somewhere forever can you?"

Gokudera scoffed, reaching into his suit. Tsuna tensed, getting ready to jump into action, but all the silver haired boy did was take out a cigarette. Tsuna sighed, and shook his head, praying he didn't die of heart failure. "Now that we're out of there, getting to the castle should be easy."

"How far is it?" Tsuna asked.

"Not too far...I think. This place looks familiar…" Gokudera rubbed his chin, his eyes roving over the area.

Tsuna opened his mouth to say something, when a familiar face with white rabbit ears hoped out of the bushes.

"Fuuta!" Everyone exclaimed, temporarily stopping the little boy.

Fuuta regarded them warily for a second, but then continued onwards at his blinding speed. "I'm so sorry everyone, but I'm late!"

"You're not late! That party doesn't even start yet!" Gokudera yelled after him. However, Fuuta was already half way down the road. "Che…stupid rabbit eared brat always--hey wait, Tsuna!"

Tsuna wasted no time in running after the boy. If he could catch him, maybe that would be the key to getting home! "Fuuuuuta!" he wailed, hoping the small child would have the heart to stop and listen for a longer span than just two seconds.

Fuuta glanced over his shoulder, but did not slow his pace, if anything, he actually increased it.

"Wait, Fuuta! I just need to talk to you for a few minutes!"

"No! I'm laaaaate!" he screamed back, already so far away that Tsuna knew he'd have no hope in catching him.

Tsuna stopped, catching his breath. Well…trying to catch Fuuta had been worth a shot, even though he had a feeling that Mukuro wouldn't make things that easy. He turned when he heard footsteps behind him.

"Tsuna! Dammit you can't catch him like that! I told you he's stuck in work mode right now. You could tell him that you're about to die and need his help and he wouldn't listen," Gokudera snarled, breathing just as hard.

Yamamoto appeared from behind him, breathing a little hard as well, though he seemed quite happy about the chase. "Don't worry, Tsuna! He's going to be at the party, so you should be able to talk to him there."

Tsuna smiled at the both of them and bowed politely. "I'm sorry you guys. You're all so willing to put up with me…"

Gokudera's face softened a bit and he coughed politely in his hand. "Yeah well…uh…let's keep going. We still have plenty of time to get to the party."

"Hmm? How do you know?" Tsuna asked, blinking.

"Hibari said when the sun is half-way set, that's when the party begins," Yamamoto replied.

Tsuna sweatdropped. "He…doesn't have a specific time?"

Gokudera shook his head. "Why would he? Hibari doesn't care about time. What he cares about is people following orders correctly."

Well…Hibari seemed the same tyrannical self he was outside the dream world judging by what Gokudera had told him. This could either be taken as a good thing, or a bad thing. Good, because Tsuna would be able to know what Hibari would do if he said certain things, bad, because well…Hibari would still do the things he knew outside this dream.

"Anyway, let's keep going. We've already wasted enough time."

Tsuna nodded, gulping nervously as he followed after the two taller boys once again. "Umm…Gokudera…"

"Huh?" he said, taking out another cigarette and lighting it. His other one must have been discarded during the chase.

"Is there…anything dangerous around here?" Tsuna asked, looking around. Alice in Wonderland didn't have anything dangerous…minus that psychotic queen (who had been replaced by an even worse tyrant by the name Hibari Kyouya), and maybe a few extremely crazed residents.

"Well, the royal guards are pretty dangerous," Yamamoto said, his smile dropping just a fraction. "Other than Hibari and his guards, there's really nothing around here that needs worrying about..."

_Good_, Tsuna thought. That meant most of the dangers were near the castle.

Gokudera took a long drag from his cigarette and looked up at the sky again. "Damn, the sun is setting..."

Tsuna looked up as well. He was right. The sun WAS setting…at an alarming speed. "HEEE!" he screamed. This wasn't normal!

Yamamoto laughed, but it was more a nervous one from what Tsuna could tell. He had been around the boy so long that he could tell which laugh was which. "Haha, this doesn't look good."

The calm expression that had been on Gokudera's face was gone now, and the cigarette that had become friends with his lips was now discarded on the ground. "Fuck! The king's getting impatient!"

"WAH! He controls the sun too?!"

Gokudera nodded gravely.

Tsuna turned away from the both of them, holding his head with both hands. What. The. Hell? Scratch that, dream Hibari was equivalent to a demonic god. "AIEEE! I want to wake up! I want to wake UUUUP!"

"Tsuna! Calm down!" Gokudera barked as he grabbed Tsuna's arm, spinning him around so they were face to face. "Panicking isn't going to make things any better."

Tsuna didn't hear him though. All he wanted to do at this moment was pass out somewhere. At least in doing that he wouldn't have to see all the chaos that was going to happen eventually. Maybe he'd be back in his own bed when he woke up?

Gokudera looked like he was going to say more as he tried to shake Tsuna out of his thoughts, but the sound of bushes rattling took his full attention. Instantly he and Yamamoto were in front of him; Gokudera with his dynamites in hand, and Yamamoto with his baseball bat.

The bushes rattled a little more before a familiar childish voice floated towards Tsuna's ears. "Where is Lambo? Here is Lambo!" A little boy with a large curly afro and bright green eyes hopped out from behind the bushes. He was dressed in a cow suit with a rocket launcher in hand and a large grin on his face.

"LAMBO?!" Tsuna screamed.

Lambo blinked at him. "Does Lambo know you?" Tsuna never had a chance to answer because Gokudera quickly took over the conversation.

"What do you want you stupid cow?"

"Eh? Lambo wants to help octopus head!" he said happily, waving his rocket launcher.

Gokudera held his hands out in front of himself, waving them back and forth nervously. "S-Stop waving that around and go annoy someone else!"

"But Lambo wants to be helpful!" Lambo sniffled, wiping a trail of snot from his nose on back of his sleeve.

"Lambo! Stop being bad!" came another voice from within the bushes. This one was high pitched with a faint Chinese accent. Wait…Chinese accent? Tsuna paled. No! Not I-Pin! Though the little girl was a lot more docile and obedient than Lambo, whenever she was in the same area as he was, nothing but total destruction was sure to follow.

"Lambo isn't being bad!" Lambo snarled, wiping the last traces of snot onto his other sleeve. "Lambo is trying to--."

I-Pin in her excitement to stop imminent doom from befalling Tsuna and his friends did a flying side kick to Lambo's head.

"AHH!" Lambo screamed, falling over and losing his grip on his rocket launcher. Without meaning to, he accidently set it off, the rocket flying straight towards Tsuna and the others.

Gokudera cursed loudly, and Yamamoto chuckled nervously, but Tsuna…well Tsuna just burst into a fit of tears, swearing he saw his life flash before his eyes as the three were blown straight in the air, disappearing into the sky.

**To be…yeah you know. xD**

* * *

**Author note: **Yeah…I got nothing to say except, zomg hurray for Dictator!Hibari with evil magical powers, rofl. I couldn't help but include Lambo and I-Pin in here. They fit nicely with all the insanity.

And holy fliptastics I got past 700 hits on this. o.o That's like, wowzers.


	5. Parte Cinque

Before we get to the story...a special thanks to all those reviewers! You guys are great!

**The Twisted Dream**

_Parte Cinque_

Suprisingly, Tsuna didn't feel any sort of pain as he slowly opened his eyes. The sky was a bright blue and…wait…bright blue? Wasn't the sun just setting a while ago? He really didn't have time to linger on this as heard two groans beside him.

"Oww…geez that fucking cow…" Gokudera hissed, slowly forcing himself off the ground.

Yamamoto chuckled, still sprawled out. "Well that was interesting. It's not everyday that happens, right Gokudera?"

"Dammit…I think I broke something."

Tsuna chuckled, unable to keep a silly grin from breaking across his face. Even in situations like this Gokudera and Yamamoto made him feel better.

"VOOOOI! Brats!"

And that's where Tsuna's smile evaporated. No…if he was here…Tsuna so wanted to just cry right now, even though he had done that more than he should have.

"Eh?" Gokudera gently helped Tsuna off the ground and Yamamoto stood up, dusting his dirty clothes off. "What the hell do you want, long-hair?"

Squalo glared at them from under his white bangs with his usual toothy grin that reminded Tsuna of a blood thirsty hound. "VOOOOI! That's no way to talk to me, brat! It's me who says whether the both of you are late or not!"

Now that Tsuna noticed…Squalo looked the same except for a white heart insignia on his black leather outfit. Wait a minute…now that he really paid attention, weren't they at the castle?!

He looked around like a fish out of water. The castle looked like a traditional one. The stone was white in color, and had a sort of glow to it. What was different was… weren't there supposed to be roses surrounding it?

_Hibari probably 'bit them to death,' _Tsuna thought grimly.

"What the hell is with you, brat? Never seen a castle before?"

Tsuna snapped out of his thoughts, trying to look anywhere but at the intimidating figure of Squalo. He had too many traumatizing experiences surrounding that psychotic man with long white hair. "Uh…n-no not really, sir."

Squalo looked immensely pleased by the 'sir' Tsuna uttered. So much so that Tsuna was starting to feel like a baby sheep being eyed by a hungry wolf. "I like you, brat. You have manners unlike these fucking morons."

Gokudera growled, clenching his hands into fists, and Yamamoto simply smiled. Whether he was annoyed by what Squalo said or not, Tsuna couldn't tell.

"These idiots are lucky I'm in a good mood today. Fine, you guys are safe," Squalo barked. Turning towards the gates he screamed, "VOOOOI! Open up!" Instantly the gates flew open.

Tsuna stared at them wide eyed. Did those just open by themselves?

Squalo glared down at him, his shadow covering Tsuna like a bird of prey over a small baby duckling. "Yeah you're a new fish," he said when he noticed his shocked expression. "I'll have to introduce you to the king so he'll know your face in the future."

"W-What?" Tsuna stuttered. "No that's not really nece--." Squalo didn't give him a chance to say anything before he grabbed his wrist and started dragging him away. "W-Wait a minute, Squalo!"

"What?" He stopped, glaring down at him again. That's when Tsuna realized he made another mistake. Saying someone's name he shouldn't know…especially when that someone was a psychopathic swordsman with the name 'shark' didn't seem so wise.

"How do you know my name, brat?"

"Uh…"

"We told him, Squalo!" Yamamoto said with a laugh. "We made sure to tell Tsuna about everything before we got here."

Squalo never took his eyes off Tsuna, even after he received his answer. Instantly, his large toothy grin came back. It was a grin that spoke of pain and suffering, most of which was aimed towards him. "Is that so? Good! Then you know everything already!"

For some reason…this didn't sound good. Yamamoto and Gokudera seemed to catch on to that hidden meaning as well because they paled considerably.

"What are you up to you long-haired bastard?" Gokudera said, eyeing him nervously.

"Nothing much, brat. Come on, spikey, let's get going! The king has all sorts of stuff planned out."

"Squalo, my name is--gah! You're pulling too hard!"

"Haha! Take it like a man, spikey!"

And Tsuna did…very reluctantly. Thankfully Gokudera admonished Squalo so much that the man grew annoyed and became a tiny bit gentler, though Tsuna's wrist still hurt and he still felt like his arm was going to pop out of its socket. If this was how Squalo treated people he liked, Tsuna was scared to imagine what it would have been otherwise…

Very soon, Tsuna and the others reached a large open area that looked a little bit like a track field…which didn't seem so bad to say the least. There were no torture devices hidden away somewhere on the field, or monsters in cages waiting to be unleashed upon the guests. Actually, the whole place just looked normal…and…well, peaceful.

Tsuna took this time to examine some of the people in that field. He could recognize some of them and some he just couldn't identify. Most of the guests were trying their best to not form large groups of people, probably afraid that Hibari would attack them into splitting up.

With a shake of his head, he let his eyes continue their journey. He saw the discipline committee members, some people from his school, a few members from Varia, and…my God was that Xanxus?!

"W-W-What's he doing here?" Tsuna said with wide eyes, pointing at the person in question.

Squalo looked at him a bit confused, following the smaller boys line of vision. He smirked. "Scared of Xanxus, eh? Don't blame you. However…it's weird you know who he is if you've never been here before."

And once again Tsuna got himself in another precarious situation. But Squalo didn't say anything more about what had just transpired. He completely ignored it as he continued to drag him…which was so un-Squalo-like that it made Tsuna wonder if he was going to have to pay the man back somehow…

"Who's this new herbivore?"

Tsuna felt like ice water had just been trickled down his back. Hibari Kyouya…there was nothing different about him; absolutely nothing to show that he was in fact king. He was even wearing the Namimori student uniform with the discipline committee patch on his shirt's arm.

Hibari was draped across a large decorative-looking chair, with a small yellow bird perched happily on his shoulder, blinking at Tsuna with small beady black eyes.

_Even in this twisted dream…Hibari still loves the school…_Tsuna sweatdropped.

"VOOOOI! Your majesty! We got a new kiddo to torture! His name is Tuna or something."

"My name is Tsuna, and what's this about t-torture?!" Tsuna looked over his shoulder in hopes that Yamamoto and Gokudera were around. Luckily they were, though they were keeping a reasonable distance from the radius of violent people.

Gokudera gave him two thumbs up, mouthing the words 'good luck,' and Yamamoto waved. To another person, this wouldn't have meant much, but to Tsuna these were silent words of encouragement. They were both still trying to show that they'd be there for him…even though they didn't really know him all that well. Friends couldn't get any truer than that…

"It's just a figure of speech, spikey," Squalo grumbled, patting him on the head as if he was a little puppy; or in Squalo language, a baby fish. That smile on his face though…spoke differently.

Hibari regarded Tsuna with cold icy eyes, but slowly, very slowly, he began to smirk.

"HEEE!" Tsuna wailed, yanking his wrist out of Squalo's grip and covering his head with his arms out of reflex. "Don't hurt me!"

Xanxus guffawed, his bellow-like laugh filling the whole field. "Well this party seems like it's going to be fun."

"Ushishishi...it appears so," Bel said with that usual creepy grin as he tossed his knives back and forth. If there was a contest between who in Varia had the scariest grin (or who was just the creepiest in general), Tsuna was sure he would win.

"His majesty should plan something outrageous this year so I can earn more gambling money from the victims," Marmon mumbled from on top of Bel's head, jumping into the conversation with ease.

_I'm going to die! I'm going to die! _Tsuna kept chanting this over and over again, wishing that Mukuro (Tsuna now made his name into a taboo) would at least have the decency to have Reborn appear and save him with a dying will bullet.

Hibari yawned, looking at the sky in deep thought for a minute, but then he turned his gaze back towards Tsuna. "How about a nice game of croquet? We'll start small so we can better get to know this herbivore."

Tsuna sighed with uncontained relief. That sounded peaceful, but the horrified faces of some of the guests at the party, including Yamamoto and Gokudera said otherwise.

Xanxus and Squalo burst into a fit of crazed laughter, and Marmon smirked, probably at the prospect of earning more money for himself.

"M-Mukuro…wake me up…" Tsuna whispered, sweating profusely. _Was it possible to die in a dream-like illusion?_ He wondered.

_Kufufufu…Confront what's frightening you, little Vongola Boss. Confront it, and maybe you'll go home. Run away from it, and you'll only go deeper into the dream, _a soothing voice rang in his ears.

Confront Hibari? That sounded like suicide…but if this game that he had planned out was a dangerous death trap, then would it really matter?

"Um…your majesty, uh…what is this game?"

"Don't do it, Tsuna!" Gokudera yelled.

Hibari glared over at him, silencing whatever protests the silver haired boy had in mind. As quickly as his gaze shifted, it was back on Tsuna again.

"The rules are simple. You survive for five minutes on this field's obstacle course until you get to the finish line. If you can do that, you win."

Tsuna sighed with relief again. Well…that wasn't so bad…

"However, most people don't make it."

And now that killed whatever joy the brunette had. Well, it was a nice dream despite being crazy. So, if he died right now…well, at least he got to see some of his friends again before he crossed over to the other side…

"Ah, now that doesn't sound fun."

Tsuna tensed. "Mukuro!" he shouted, pouring all his heart and soul into saying his name. It was like he if did that, the older boy would use his magical illusion powers to save him.

The cat eared Mist Guardian was lounging on the grass a good deal away from Hibari, yawning in his hand as his striped tail twitched lazily. "Hello, little Vongola. It's nice to see that you missed my presence." He seemed to glow with pleasure at this…though Tsuna didn't see how he got that he was missed out of calling for his help.

"What are you doing here, cat? I thought I told you you were never invited to any of my parties again," Hibari growled, his tonfas instantly coming out from his sleeves as he jumped out of his chair. He had done it so smoothly, that Tsuna almost thought that Hibari had been standing the whole time. The small yellow bird that had been on his shoulder flew off, singing the school song as it disappeared into the sky.

"Boredom. Also, you didn't say anything about banning me, you simply attacked me. There's a difference."

Hibari twirled his tonfas threateningly, but Mukuro seemed to be unfazed by his aggression. "I'll bite you death."

"You can do that later. Wouldn't it be more fun to beat small helpless _adorable _herbivores like that boy there?" Mukuro pointed at Tsuna with his tail.

Tsuna moved away from Mukuro's line of vision, but the Mist Guardian's tail followed him each time. "WAH! I thought you were on my side!"

"I never said I was. You simply assumed."

"This isn't fair!"

"Life isn't fair."

Tsuna sniffled. Well…this was it. Mukuro was going to egg Hibari into a bloodthirsty frenzy, most likely getting everyone beaten on the head by his metal tonfas that was within a five mile radius.

"Ushishishi…what do you plan on doing, your majesty?" Bel asked, looking over at Tsuna, grinning widely.

"HEEE! Don't do anything! Attack Mukuro or something!"

Mukuro pouted, but he seemed more amused than upset. "That's no way to talk to your ally."

"But you just said you weren't on my side!"

"I didn't say that."

"GAAAAH!" Tsuna held his head. Why oh why couldn't he just wake up?!

"You're really screwed, spikey," Squalo whispered as he pat him on the head again. It seemed he had taken quite an enjoyment in making Tsuna feel like he was very small; that or he genuinely cared. Of course, any psychologist could tell you that that was impossible as far as Squalo's personality went.

Hibari closed his eyes as if trying to fight back a wave of unrestrained fury from being unleashed, which only made Tsuna panic more. Things might have taken a turn for the worse if Mukuro hadn't opened his mouth at that very moment.

"I have an idea, my dear king."

"Hmm?" Hibari opened his eyes. His gaze practically screamed 'death' and 'I'm going to bite you to death if you don't hurry the hell up.'

"Why not just duel him? If he makes it past a certain time slot of…hmm…you, silver haired boy, what time do you think would be fine?"

Gokudera tensed as all eyes landed on him. "W-What? Me? Why are you picking me?"

Mukuro shrugged. "No particular reason. Your hair just caught the sun and temporarily blinded me, so I picked you."

Gokudera growled with indignation, but answered as loudly as he could, more than likely in an urge to get attention off of him so he could calm his boiling temper. "I'd say about--."

"One minute!" Squalo bellowed, terrifying Tsuna, and successfully cutting off Gokudera's speech. "A minute is long enough. I doubt the brat will live that long."

"T…thanks for the support, Squalo," Tsuna grumbled.

"No problem, spikey. Anytime."

Gokudera bristled. "He was being sarcastic you damn--!"

"One minute it is," Hibari replied, his cold blue eyes roving Tsuna. The cruel smile that appeared on his face almost made him want to melt away. It was the smile of a predator who had just found himself a decent meal.

"You can do it, spikey! Well, actually you can't, but hell I'll get entertained regardless," Squalo whispered rather loudly, patting him on the head once again.

Xanxus laughed. "Of course he can't! But who the fuck cares? That kid pisses me off just looking at him!"

Yes…Tsuna was going to be killed while Varia laughed at his demise, and probably threw a party after they cleaned his corpse off the field.

_Mukuro really is out to get me! _He screamed in his mind. At that moment, he honestly wished he could just faint, but it seemed evil demonic cat-boy Mukuro was not going to allow that to happen.

_There really is no hope me…_

"You fucking bastards! This isn't fair at all! I'm not sitting by and watching Tsuna get beaten to a pulp just because the king and that damn cat are bored!" Gokudera snarled, taking out some dynamites.

"Neither am I," Yamamoto replied, sending a gentle smile in Tsuna's direction.

Try as he might to keep himself from looking too pitiful in this situation, he couldn't help but feel his eyes tearing up. Such devotion to justice!

"HAHA! YOU HAVE ME HERE TOO!"

Out of nowhere, Ryohei fell from the sky, landing with a thud next to Tsuna. On his head, clinging on for dear life was Fuuta with his hair a complete mess, and his eyes the size of saucers.

Tsuna didn't have time to really ponder why the hell Ryohei and Fuuta fell out of the sky, because at the very moment he had zoomed behind Squalo, clinging on to his leather jacket like his life depended on it.

"Oww…well I took that fall to the EXTREME!" He did a pose that once again crackled with burning passion like the very sun in the sky.

"Your majesty…it seems I'm late. So sorry…" Fuuta said sadly, slowly scrambling off Ryohei's head.

Squalo eyed the both of them boredly, scooting away with a still clinging Tsuna attached to his jacket. "Damn rabbit brat, you're always late so no one cares."

Fuuta sighed, walking over to Hibari's chair and sitting down next to it. As if he had known what was about to happen despite having randomly fallen out the sky, he took out his ranking book. "Your majesty, have you reached a decision?"

Hibari simply looked at each person who decided to help the tiny brunette boy. For a second, he actually looked less intimidating…but knowing Hibari this was more than likely not a very good thing. "They want to get bitten to death too, so who am I to ignore this herd?"

Tsuna was so busy being trapped in 'panic mode,' praying that he'd wake up any second for what seemed like the one hundredth time, that he failed to notice the pleased expression on Mukuro's face.

**To be continued!**

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**Author note: **Whoohoo for cliff hangers. I'm so notorious for these, but hey, I've been updating quickly (coughmainlybecauseI'mdonecough). Ah, and yes, I love Squalo. I'd so buy a plushie of him if there were any.

Aaaand…this chapter turned out way longer than I meant it to be. Also, If you thought this chapter was out 'zomg isanity!' you just wait until the last chapter...o.o

Remember to review, people! XD Hmm…I wonder if anyone really even reads my author's notes? o.O


	6. Finale

**Leer – **Whoohoo! Yes, the last chapter was my favorite chapter too, well besides this one. There's just something about this one I like quite a bit. Yay! Thank you for noticing that! In KHR, that's a reoccurring theme I've noticed happens quite a bit.

Yes, I killed Xanxus in personality, but I tried. XD Squalo (since I adore him) and the others were a piece of cake compared to him. And fiddle-sticks I did it again with the same word usage/metaphors/things! **–slaps forehead-** I'll try working on that in the future. That's a major issue of mine. All in all, thanks a bunch for the critique as well as the review! I swear I never notice these things, lol.

Anywho…**onwards to the last chapter! **I won't make you guys wait. xD

**Twisted Dream**

_Finale_

"Well, that settles it," Mukuro replied happily, disappearing in the blink of an eye. The other guests moved off, trying to put a great deal of distance between themselves and what was considered the 'battlefield'. "Little Vongola, your chances of survival have just increased by one percent. You should be overjoyed." He heard the older boy say, although his body was nowhere to be found.

Tsuna should have been, but he wasn't. He was absolutely terrified.

"H-How am I supposed to fight without a weapon?" he asked, still stuck behind Squalo like glue. The older man hadn't made a move to shove him off, so that was good…

"I would lend you something, but it would cost you some money," Marmon said boredly with that same apathetic tone of voice he used for just about everything.

"In other words…you won't help…" Tsuna sweatdropped.

"Don't worry! Use your fists!" Ryohei bellowed.

As much as Tsuna would like to take him up on that offer…fighting Hibari with your fists seemed like an invitation to get whacked upside the cranium with enough force to down a dragon.

Hibari tilted his head towards one of his disciplinary members who had walked out with a large club. Tsuna tensed. Was he supposed to use that?! It looked rather heavy…much too heavy for him to hold.

Gently, the man laid the club on the ground, nodded at Tsuna and walked back over to the other committee members.

"VOOOOI! It seems you got yourself a weapon now! Anyway, time to let go, spikey." Squalo, twisted his hips, throwing Tsuna's grip off him. "Usually I don't let people touch me. You're lucky I'm in such an awfully good mood right now."

Tsuna really didn't see how that was lucky. It seemed more like sympathy than anything else.

"All right! Positions everyone!" Fuuta called, his voice magnified by a large megaphone.

Tsuna picked up his club with a lot of effort, walking over to where Gokudera and the others were. They pat him on the back, offering him comfort in an urge to calm his speeding heart.

"Remember, for this battle your goal is to survive for one whole minute! If Tsuna is knocked out before one minute, you all lose."

"WHAT?!" Several people exclaimed, Tsuna and the others included.

"Ushishishi, adding a rule at the last minute? Pure genius your majesty!" Bel said with his perpetual grin.

Squalo laughed moving away from the battle zone to stand next to Xanxus. "This just keeps getting better and better! Spikey, I don't care much for your friends, but don't die! That defeats the purpose in me harassing you later!"

Tsuna sighed. Death was around every corner now…

"You didn't have that rule the first time, so it doesn't count!" Ryohei roared, balling his hands into fists.

"Sorry Mister…but Xanxus came up with the idea while you were talking to each other. His majesty must like it since he hasn't said anything against it…so um…" Fuuta trailed off. "Anyway, get ready…FIGHT!"

"W-Wha--!" Tsuna didn't get a chance to finish before something metal almost whacked him on the head. "HEEE!" he screamed, falling backwards.

"Tsuna!" Yamamoto yelled, blocking the next blow aimed for his head with speed that matched a striking snake.

Hibari glared at him. "You're in my way."

"Haha…so I am. Uh…sorry Hibari, but I can't let you--." Yamamoto smoothly got out the way as a tonfa came from his right towards his face…or at least he thought so before something hard and cold struck him on his left side.

"Y-Yamamoto!" Tsuna yelled as his friend passed out on the ground.

"Six seconds!" Fuuta yelled over the commotion.

_Just six seconds and Yamamoto was already knocked out?! _Tsuna thought. Could it be that Mukuro was sadistic enough to make dream Hibari a lot stronger than the real one? This was an illusion…and as such the older boy did have the power to do that, but what was the point? What was Mukuro trying to accomplish in this?

Tsuna barely dodged another blow. The club was weighing him down, and was basically garbage in terms of protection since he could hardly hold it.

"Che! Stupid baseball idiot!" Gokudera took out armfuls of dynamite, throwing them everywhere in his excitement to destroy the one person who was really getting on his nerves.

"AHHH! Gokudera, that's too many!" Tsuna wailed.

"Eh?"

Explosions sounded here and there with dust flying all over the place.

"Octopus head, this is extreme, but it's a bit too extreme even for me!" Ryohei yelled, dodging an explosion near him with inhuman speed.

"Fuck! I didn't mean to throw so many!"

And thus Gokudera was still…Gokudera. His blind loyalty and commitment to Tsuna once again almost got the poor boy killed. There was one good thing about his random dynamite throwing though. During the chaos, Tsuna was able to run over to Yamamoto, and drag him a small (very small) fraction away from where most of the dynamites were going off.

"My own friends are tying to murder me," Tsuna said, staring at the dynamites that were setting off a chain reaction against each other.

"Octopus head, make 'em stop!"

"I can't, dammit!"

Tsuna sighed. Well…Hibari wasn't biting anyone to death right now, and that was--wait a minute…where the hell was Hibari?

He never had a chance to blink before something hard connected with the side of his face, knocking him at least five feet from where he had been standing a few seconds ago. He felt as if a train had just collided with his face, and honestly didn't want to get up anymore. "Oww oww oww…"

"Oh come on, brat! The king gave you a baby tap!" Squalo shouted.

"That's not a baby tap!" Ryohei hollered back. "Hey, stay still! He can't hurt you if you go in fetal position!"

"Isn't that for bears?" Xanxus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Eh…good enough for this situation," Marmon said, tightening his small fingers in Bel's hair, much to the young 'prince's' discomfort.

Gokudera reached into his pinstripe suit for another dynamite, but he stopped when a sword was at this throat. "You bastard…" he snarled, glaring daggers at Squalo. "I thought this was just between us and Hibari!"

Squalo gave him a toothiest grin Tsuna had ever seen. To anyone who knew Squalo, this was not necessarily a good thing.

Gokudera growled at him a bit before turning his anger on the one person who seemed to know the rules. "Fuuta, dammit, this isn't fair!"

Fuuta appeared a bit nervous as his rabbit ears twitched up and down. "I…well, the rules changed, so…uh…"

"You can't go changing the rules in the middle of combat!" Ryohei howled, punching his fists together.

Fuuta opened his mouth to say more, but Xanxus took over. "There are no RULES, idiots. We made all that up."

Tsuna slowly forced himself off the ground. This pain felt seriously real...this wasn't just a dream anymore…it was something else entirely. But Tsuna couldn't explain what it was. Then again, if he believed in the pain, then that made it real even if it was an illusion, right?

"You're weak," Hibari muttered, watching him struggle with unrestrained displeasure.

Tsuna didn't answer back as he continued to stand up again.

With a frown, Hibari continued. "You weren't even a challenge. The croquet game would have been more enjoyable."

"Wait…Hibari…" Tsuna rasped, forcing himself to ignore the throbbing feeling on his head. "I can still fight you."

Hibari's frown twitched into a half-smirk as he attacked Tsuna again. This time Tsuna was able to block it, though just barely. He could feel the force of the blow, and went flying against the ground once again.

"TSUNA!" He heard Gokudera roar, but his gaze was getting fuzzy and everything sounded a bit distant…

A voice that reminded him very much like Ryohei said, "get up, Tuna! You can do it!"

That made Tsuna laugh a little. Tuna. Of course dream Ryohei never really learned his name...although the boy's name had been screamed the whole time.

"VOOOI! Spikey, get up! You're boring the hell out of us!" Squalo shouted, his sword still pressed against Gokudera's throat.

Even as everything began to get blurry, Tsuna oh so wanted to tell Squalo that he could take over and 'entertain' everyone, but he knew nothing would come of it. Instead, he just lay on the ground staring up at the sky and noticing just how very blue it was, and how odd it was that the colors were starting to mesh together like paint.

_I wonder if people think about stupid things like this before they are attacked by a bloodthirsty animal..._ he thought.

Hibari waited patiently for a few seconds…but he never really was a patient person to begin with, so that ended in failure. "How dull. I'm just going to bite you to death right now."

Tsuna knew he'd do it too.

_Well…at least I did something, right? _For some odd reason…although he knew he'd probably get bitten to death thoroughly to the point where he'd more than likely never walk again, he was a bit proud that he had at least stood his ground against someone as aggressive and cold as Hibari…even though this whole situation could have been avoided if a certain cat-eared Guardian hadn't decided to interfere…

"WAIT!" Fuuta's voice cut across the field like a knife. "One minute has passed!"

"There's no rules, brat!" Squalo barked in annoyance.

Fuuta's rabbit ears twitched. "Um…his majesty never said that there weren't any rules. Xanxus just sorta…um…took over…"

Xanxus glared at Fuuta, but the rabbit eared boy refused to meet his gaze. All he did was stare straight ahead at nothing in particular.

"Well…a deal is a deal, stupid herbivore. You and your friends are safe…for now." Hibari didn't bother to look at Tsuna as he walked away, heading back towards his throne. That small yellow bird from earlier came back, landing on his shoulders and singing the school song once again.

The song…for once it was oddly comforting…or would have been if everything wasn't spinning.

_Good job, little Vongola boss. That was highly entertaining…_came that voice again. It sounded like it belonged to Mukuro, and yet it's tone was that of a very tired person, nothing like how the older boy had sounded earlier.

"What? HEEE!" Tsuna yelled, suddenly as the ground began to crumble. Soon, he was tumbling through a large crater, Gokudera and Ryohei calling for him as he quickly disappeared in total darkness…

"JYUUDAIME!"

Tsuna's eyes flew open.

Standing above him were Yamamoto and Gokudera who regarding him with confused and worried expressions. Gone was the top hat, pinstripe suit, and the hare ears. Instead, there were two perfectly normal people looking down at him.

Apparently Tsuna had become tangled in his sheets and they had tried to help him out of it, only succeeding in making him fall out of his bed. He winced, feeling like he cracked his broken rib even more…and his head was throbbing as if Hibari's tonfas had really whacked him…

"Are you all right, Jyuudaime? We've been trying to wake you up for a while. Not even Reborn could get you up," Gokudera said gently, he and Yamamoto helping Tsuna off the floor and back into bed.

Reborn hopped on the edge of it, smiling from under his fedora hat. "You've slept awfully late, Dame Tsuna. You do know that means double training for you, right?"

"WHAT?!" Gokudera exclaimed. "Why?! Jyuudaime's hurt and tired! I'll take all his punishment!"

Yamamoto laughed. "Another game, eh baby? Well that sounds like fun. Count me in!"

"It's not fun, idiot! And this isn't a fucking game!"

Reborn just looked at Tsuna, with that sly cat-like smirk. "Well, if the both of you take his punishment, what sort of boss would he be, hmm?"

Tsuna could feel his heart stop with that wicked smile. Flashbacks of being blown up, electrocuted, and various other torture methods flashed in his head. "No not again!" he wailed, covering his head with a pillow and wishing he'd just go back to the dream world. However, after the whole drama with that dream Mukuro had trapped him in, he wasn't sure sleeping anymore was the best idea.

At that moment of pure terror, Tsuna swore he'd never ever read Alice in Wonderland again. That book was getting thrown away or burned as soon as he was able to do it.

Amidst the arguing in the background between Reborn and Gokudera, mainly the latter, Tsuna wondered…what was the point in all that? Was there a particular reason Mukuro had made him go through what seemed literally like hell?

And that's when it struck him. Mukuro hadn't done it out of malice of any sort (if that were possible), but maybe, just maybe somewhere in that black heart of his, he was trying to test Tsuna, trying to see what decisions he'd make in the dream world so he'd better know him in reality.

_That can't be it…_he thought. It was too simple, and Mukuro was not a simple person. Besides, he more than likely failed the test as the new Vongola boss if that was the case…

Slowly he closed his eyes, falling back asleep despite the fact he promised himself he'd never sleep again.

* * *

Outside, Chrome looked at Tsuna's window and smiled before walking away. Mukuro would never say it out loud or even explain what had just transpired to her, but whatever the older boy had done, she was sure there had been some good in it since he had put so much energy into creating a dream for the Vongola boss.

"It seemed this plan of yours was a success Mukuro-sama…"

Although she couldn't see him, she could sense him smile as well.

**Finale**

* * *

**Author note: **See Tsuna, Mukuro cares…in a weird way? o.O

Thanks for reviewing, favoriting, and alerting this story, guys! You're all awesome possums times ten! Now I need to figure out what else to write…x.x;; **–has too much free time for her own good- **

If you guys have any ideas, just send me a PM or something.


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